Survey Examines Clean Energy

WASHINGTON — Many Americans believe clean-energy development and addressing climate change should be priorities for President Obama and Congress, according to a survey conducted by researchers from Yale University and George Mason University.

A majority of respondents said the president and Congress should make developing sources of clean energy a priority, with 31 percent saying it should be a very high priority, 38 percent a high priority, and 23 percent a medium priority. Only 8 percent said developing clean energy sources should be a low priority. Further, 73 percent said they favor government spending for research into renewable energy sources, the survey showed.

More than 75 percent said global warming should be a priority for the president and Congress, with 18 percent saying it should be a very high priority, 25 percent a high priority, and 34 percent a medium priority. Only 23 percent of those surveyed said it should be a low priority. About 61 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. should reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions regardless of what other countries do. A majority, 66 percent, said they support regulating CO2 as a pollutant, while 59 percent said they support eliminating all subsidies for the fossil-fuel industry.

Publication date: 1/21/2013

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